Braving the heat: again in the Philippines

Catching up on a trip to Manila in mid-June. Since I was staying in Makati (downtown / financial area) this time, I decided to stroll around instead of attempting to uber to farther destinations (my previous traumatic experience was still fresh in my memory) Besides the heat and humidity, there was really nothing to complain about (or be afraid of) in the few blocks around the hotel. There was a decently-sized supermarket, in which I was dismayed to find that no Asian, aka Japanese / Korean, snacks were in stock. Given the all-too-obvious abundance of Japanese cars on the street, I really thought that the snack industry would have an equal influence. There were, however, digestive biscuits on sale, an excellent item for the long commute back. I was definitely the odd one in the queue with only the biscuits and a bag of mango slices, where everyone else looked like they're preparing for an imminent typhoon... Seriously, everyone in queue had at least one full shopping cart, and the couple before me had almost 20 cardboard boxes full of groceries (heck there were 4 people helping them process, 1 load the conveyor belt, 1 scan the items, and 2 stuff the boxes)

The view is through the arched breezeway of the Philippine Exchange Plaza, a cool refuge from the scorching sun outside. The park in the foreground (Ayala Triangle Gardens) was also very nice and quiet, too bad that I ran out of green paint so the leaves looked more subdued than they really were... It really didn't come to me that I could just mix blue and yellow to make green, until a week after I returned...missed opportunities haha

Parts of town: Haight Ashbury

Summer of love event was a good excuse to visit Haight Ashbury again, I remember quickly walking through the streets during my apartment hunting a few years back. This time the organizer of the sketch Meetup found a perfect spot to enjoy the street view, outside a busy grocer. The street is extremely busy on the weekend, but the benches are surprisingly empty (even after I went back after the meetup to finish up the painting) 

 I was still paranoid about painting people without their knowledge (somehow I feel more intimidated here than the more crowded places like Singapore) So instead of drawing the guys chilling at the table next to us, I twisted my body to draw the scene across the street (my seat is actually facing in the direction of the street)
I was extra impressed by myself that I could negative-paint the letters without any pencil under drawings!

I saw the church (St. Ignatius) while riding the N-train into Haight, so I tried finding it again after hopping off the train. The green in the foreground is part of the Panhandle.

Coast to Lakes, roadtrip in Ontario: The Main Course!

The trip itself was planned around the visit to Algonquin Provincial Park, but we still lingered a bit in Gravenhurst and tried looking for wine to no avail (since all liquor stores, save for a few in downtown Toronto, were closed for Victoria Day) We could cross the border at Niagara Falls to get some, but that would be decreasing valuable time spent in Algonquin Park, so no! 

View on Highway 60 heading into the park. It is truly a highway built for the city folks, since it takes a huge detour to connect Toronto and Ottawa through all the cottage country. Traffic was heavy on the opposite side, since it was the last day of Victoria Day long weekend, which makes me even happier heading in! This is my first and probably last attempt at drawing in the car though...even though it is a good way to pass time and stay awake, but I got car sick before I can finish it properly

The next day on the Big Pine Trail. This one was split through the middle (probably by thunder?) The look was pretty stunning

This is the only one that I had some proper place to put my tools (okay, I put them on a rock...but at least there was a rock!) This is the view in front of our cabin, with some canoes to use and a pier to set out into the lake. This time we finally canoed to the shore on the far side (helped by the windless morning)

A final one done just before sunset on the last night. More memorable than the scene itself was how the black flies swarmed over the car right after we parked (probably thinking it is a big moose or something), after which we quickly decided not the open the window/get out of the car.

Coast to Lakes, roadtrip in Ontario: The Lakes!

 Water was an unavoidable subject from the 2nd day of the road trip onwards, because we were either looking at lakes, rowing in the lake...or getting rained on!

Lake Erie flowing into Lake Ontario at Niagara Falls. Canadian Horseshoe Falls on the right, American Falls in the middle, and Rainbow bridge on the left. The steam blocks the view from time to time, but this time I had the luxury of relaxing in the hotel room sofa perched high above ground and sipping hot tea, while waiting for the wind to blow the steam away. Niiiiice

Scribbled together a quick one at Gravenhurst's Steamship pier before the drizzle set in. Since my last visit was nice and balmy weather, I was totally unprepared of the freezing wind...so the boathouses to the right was left undrawn...The steamships are (left) RMS Segwun and Wenonah (right). The water itself is Muskoka Bay. And...they're both off season, since I still chose early Spring to revisit...oh well, at least Segwun is not under renovation this time.

Coast to Lakes, roadtrip in Ontario: Airplanes!

I wanted to visit the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum ever since I saw Rick Mercer (CBC Monday Report)'s piece on it (lucky bastard got to ride on a Lancaster Bomber over Niagara falls...in the autumn!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAnqbFiLbyM

The Museum is right beside Hamilton International Airport (yes, we did drive from Toronto's Pearson Airport straight to another airport lol) After going through some mandatory patriotic education (okay, fine, just some general display explaining where the planes come from and how they were used during war. Plus some display of pilot's personal account and memorabilia. After going through the small exhibition space, it is onto the hangers and airplane crowd. Yay!

Catalina w/ its loooong wingspan

Star of the museum, the Lancaster Bomber

It was exciting to see so many airworthy planes in a plane museum, especially when you see the metal pans under the planes collecting oil ;P

And...it just happens that the first page is also a plane (because I was waiting around at the airport, trying to experiment with the new sketchbook) I was struggling with the smooth surface, so the colours of the Lufthansa tail went totally off the board (it was supposed to be deep blue...)

Virtual snapshots of Italy

Done over a few weekday evenings, trying out some value study and new brushes. All references from Google Street View 

 Naples

http://www.mapcrunch.com/p/40.716406_14.488369_128.83_-12.71_0

 Milan

http://www.mapcrunch.com/p/45.462947_9.174987_106.8_-13.22_0

Florence (I stumbled across a documentary on the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, the building method of which is still not completely known. Hence this street view)

http://www.mapcrunch.com/p/43.773486_11.253803_89.86_-2.66_0

Bay Natives Nursery - where the chickens have fun

I honestly haven't seen chickens roam around freely for a long time (or at all??) let alone hen with a queue of chicks following behind. Which is the first things I saw at the nursery. Forget about the native plants, I could follow the chickens around all day! There was also a gorgeous looking chicken with flowy golden feather around its neck and shiny dark green plumage on its tail, too bad I didn't get a chance to sketch it because it was too busy getting attention from other customers lol. (side note, while following the chickens around with my sketchbook, I discovered that the owner actually built them an underground passage way and a two-level chicken co-op where they can get water/food and avoid human interaction whenever they want!)

There was also a fenced area where the goats rests. I was expecting to graze around all day, but it turns out this bunch are content just sit lounging around in the sun. Only but a few ones show interest in the bucket of hay. (yes, the nursery provides a bucket of hay next to the enclosure for you to feed them) Oh well, sitting around is easier for me to paint I guess.

A little walk out is Heron's Head Park, with a direct view onto Pier 96. The cranes looked nice, so I decided to paint this view.